rthstewart | Anons, Bombs, and Bangs

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Anons, Bombs, and Bangs

Anons and others, thank you for the kudos over on A03! CKate, if you keep reading Harold and Morgan, you will finally see Tumnus make an appearance. Also, he’s in The Horse and Her Girl. Tumnus and Peridan can’t stand each other. It’s a total bromance and probably romantic. And thank you

blithers for the rec in

het_reccers

So, let’s see. With the sort of merging of old fandom friends and new fandom friends, I’m not sure any more where I should bitch about my brother and sister in law and the never ending power struggle involving the ~~bitch~~ beach house that has now roiled over into a school fundraising activity involving pencils and erasers. So many lawyers in the family is so very much not a good thing (there are 5? 6? plus Grandma likes to sue without a lawyer because she doesn’t think she needs one) especially when coupled with a cultural proclivity toward rigidity and argument and a habit of carrying out warfare via email. The good thing about the last three years in this fandom was that I was able to quote back to a worried teacher who’d received an email bomb from my BIL about the pencils and erasers, “No really, it’s him, not you.” Or to quote my newly minted teen, “Haters are gonna hate, mom.”

Which brings me to pound cake and porn. The porn challenge is underway and so here is the signal boost and the note that as

vialethe pointed out there is a real lack of Narnia porn thus far. I keep wanting to do something with Cor and Aravis but I’ve found myself really reluctant to write them after the wonderful work of

edenfalling which isn’t porn or pound cake but still highly sensual and has become complete head canon for me. And hey, I wrote Caspian and Peter (sort of) for

snacky! And that whole paragraph of the Revel in I love not man the less! And Maenad! And before that, other things. Really! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and burned the negatives.

Which brings me next to the fact that yeah, the lovely anons notwithstanding, I continue to get hit, and in particular took one to the teeth recently. I have written a response which I have not posted, going back to my teen’s sage advice. Still, it rankles to stay silent when I'm instructed that fandom has changed since I entered it in the 1970s so I should just get with the program. Really, I can act my ancient age (unless it involves beach house selection with my in laws).

snitchnipped is proposing a big bang write in for Friday night so if you are interested, contact her but I think the timing is 9 PM ET. We’ll hang on Skype or in a chat room somewhere and motivate each other to sit down and write.

To that end, I somehow have managed to develop over 16,000 words of Harold and Morgan, Part 3, none of it postable. I keep thinking that I can write both the Big Bang and a Two Hearts Day piece for H&M at the same time and I'm not being real successful at it.

Harold had, for whatever reason, arrived in Archenland in all his Royal State and brought a lot of Narnians with him, which made Lucy laugh and Lune’s steward sigh though it wasn’t as if you needed to make up a room in the Castle for a Centauress or ten Crows. That part was really lovely. Morgan had missed Jalur, and Eirene was there, too, and members of the Palace Pack, and Mrs. Furner, Mr. Hoberry, and Jezebel had all sent gifts and notes and bows and there were Crows everywhere.

She wasn’t hiding from Harold, not exactly. Anvard was big and Morgan just got lost in the crush and kept to her place with the other advisors of the court. She had her own power in Archenland and she used it to be left alone and to set her own duties, schedules, and appointments. She was busy. She was working with Lune’s Exchequer, Lord Ker, on investment performance, training his assistant, Lady Sharra, and had meetings with guild representatives from the lower town to determine what equipment needed to be replaced next year and how to plan for its purchase now.

That strategy worked for two days.

Then Harold started looking for her. Jina started badgering her to talk to him and the Crows weren’t just following her around for fun. They were reporting to Harold on where she was not-hiding.

And sure, she was only accountable to Lune and Lord Ker, but Harold was a visiting Royal and he could be pretty imperial-like when he wanted to be. Everyone stood up when he entered the room and Anvard staff were all hopping to for his every whim and if that meant knowing where Banker Morgan was not-hiding, they’d inform the King Edmund, oh yes, your royal majesty, AD Morgan is the counting room now.

She kept tripping over him, like the dumb cat hanging around the hearth.

Harold was causing quite the stir too among the women in the court and Morgan couldn’t help but hear their whispers about why he wasn’t married yet and who his latest lover might be, and how handsome he was, and yes, he was handsome, and if those ladies didn’t stop talking about him, Morgan was going to move a few zeros on their next accounting or ask some of the Crows to misplace the Ladies’ gems. For a little while. Maybe even a long while.

It was good though, in the painful way that removing a splinter was good or lancing a boil. It all came more clearly into focus. Harold had been more important to her than she had been to him and that was her fault for investing in something that ate. Kings shouldn't be sleeping with their Bankers, especially when he was supposed to be the impartial Just King sovereign over her House and her House's competitors. Royalty needed consorts and heirs, and those women who were wrangling for his attention and talking about him and flirting with him could provide that and wanted to do so. She herself was automatically dismissed, not as a servant who might be used, but as something else, both higher and lower. If the matters had involved trade, accounting, and finance, she was important, considered and sought after. In matters of romantic maneouvering, Morgan was completely invisible.

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Well, for starters, I think you should just set a default email reply image that is comprised solely of this:

And then, just remember how much alcohol will be at the ~~bitch~~beach house.

Oh, Morgan. How is it that your little shriveled emotional side CONTINUALLY makes me love and adore and get so sad for you. My darlings. ♥ ♥

Keep your head up and don't let the bastards get you down. You are awesome and my inspiration in so many ways and little ditzes trying to educate you on fandom history need to STFU and STFD, end of story.

Awww, you are so nice!
Did you know that the (many) male fans of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic are called Bronies? The good news is that having dodged so many bombs here I've gotten better about dealing with them in RL, sort of. Gah.

As for Morgan and Harold, what we have here is a failure to communicate. People got pretty frustrated with both of them at the end of the last chapter so I'm giving them so lovely, sappy times and some moments of understanding before BAM another crisis that sends Morgan scuttling off this time and leaving Harold thinking, oh hell, that went well NOT. I'm trying to decide what Morgan actually WOULD want for Two Hearts Day besides a couple shares in a profitable guild or volume 2 of the Calormene erotic poetry.

OH MORGAN *squishes*

And hugs for you hun - *squishes* <3

Thank you much! I know, Morgan, rationalization much? I realized I've written her a lot like Eustace and Mary and I need to be sure I keep those POVs separated. They both have that same rapid fire mind that is always jumping from one thing to another, but Morgan has very little understanding of herself emotionally.

I have written a response which I have not posted, going back to my teen's sage advice.

When it comes to fandom and dealing with people I don't really know, I always play it safe and say nothing if I can't scrounge up a nice and polite reply.

It seems like many people are having trouble working on their NBB, which makes me feel even better that I didn't sign up for it. I have enough trouble writing 1K of a story, let alone 10K or more. But the group write-in does sound like a good idea; at least then you'll be more focused (in theory) on Narnia and fic instead of being distracted by other things.

Oh Morgan. Really, if you don't want dim princesses to edge into your territory, you must simply do something about it. It's not like Harold can actually do anything about them since he's merely a guest at Anvard and not in his own domain. So what is Edmund doing here anyway? Just to make like difficult for his Banker or is it really some sort of diplomatic affair? (When dealing with Human females and staking your rightful claim, I think Constance could give her a few pointers.)

Hey there! Long time no see!! I hope you are feeling better!

Actually this whole Harold and Morgan segment is a response to the reader feedback from the final chapters of H&M. That people did want to see them reach some level of understanding, for a while. They weren't communicating very well in the last chapter of H&M due to what we assume is Harold angst/preoccupation and Morgan assumes OVER and Harold really isn't thinking about it all. He sort of assumes that she'll come back after the trip with Lucy to the audit of the Calormene mine and they'll just pick up where they did before and so, yeah, they need to work it out and have some happy times before I start killing characters again.

They'll work it out. I've actually got most of the scene written where they DO work it out, but I'm stumbling a bit over 1) how to end it and 2) do I want Harold to decide, yes, he is going to go courting, which would just be hilarious as the Narnians help him with that.

As for the BB, I figured out a way to tell Susan's story, so that will go quickly now and then I just need to write D Day. Yeah. Just. But I've got 30,000+ words in pretty good shape. It's not ready for serious beta yet, but do you want to see it yet, or wait?

I'm feeling much better, thanks! I also loved the H&M and Susan/Tebbitt snippets you added in other comments (though, I'm rather surprised Asim was willing to part with Susan's letter to Edmund... perhaps he sees it as what God is telling him to do).

If Edmund does go a-courting, I think he'd just end up stumbling into it by accident; given how he and Morgan first got together, it wouldn't surprise me if certain members of the Cair staff were the ones to subtly push the two Humans in the right direction.

As for the beta, I don't mind waiting. It will be a busy weekend for me so I don't think I'll have enough time to devote to any nitpicking right now (dinner party tomorrow, and I think I have to work on Sunday night because it's awards show season -- FUN!).

I hope the dinner party went well! I've been secretly working on H&M anyway. Me bad.

You have a newly minted teen in the home now? Gee, where does the time go. Now I'm feeling old. ;)

Sorry to hear about the annual beach house selection woes.

YES, he is a TEENAGER. And yeah, the BIL and SIL are just SUCH a pain sometimes and my BIL treats every email as if he is interrogating a hostile witness before a judge. He's let go with no fewer than 4 email bombs since Tuesday -- 3 at me and one at someone else that I got caught in the fallout over.

Is Aravis around? She could be enlisted by Jalur to help poor Morgan out. Or perhaps one very astute not-a-lady-in-waiting that happens to work in the castle?

Somehow, neither Cor nor Corin seem the type.

Doctor Dolly

Hey there! I hope all is well! They'll work it out! I've already written most of that with Harold coming clean on why he acted so oddly. I'm actually sort of wondering what Morgan's reaction is to the whole "I betrayed everyone" speech. He really didn't see why she was upset and Morgan, to her credit, has her list all written out with why she is upset. And once they talk about it all -- and it's funny but the way I write him, he's very quick to admit (shared) fault. I don't write him as holding doggedly to a point for the sake of carrying the argument. But, once they do clear the air, what happens next? I think I like the idea that they actually try a traditional sort of courtship with the Narnians all providing advice on how Harold is supposed to build bowers with blue or puff out his chest or challenge other males to single combat and spray areas with urine. Point is, they need some happy before all hell breaks loose (again). So funny when everyone knows the end here.

She looked at her notes and shuffled them in her lap. All her worries about Alan and that Narnia didn’t have a succession plan in place so all their investments could go straight to Tash if they didn’t do something because Harold might leave the same way he came. And there were conflicts of interest and appearances of impropriety and preferential treatment that Queen Susan saw and that’s why she didn’t approve of the two of them together. Harold was thinking strategically, which she really did approve of, and knew it was better if she took Meryl and Pierce took Linch and Maeve took Stanleh and they molded it all into something strong and good for Narnia. She was much better for Narnia in the Lone Islands. He was respecting her life and her work and her choices.

All that, all those things that mitigated and explained it and what had happened and why, Morgan agreed with them all. It all made perfect sense. It was all completely rational and logical. But still there was one thing that had cut her, deeply, and made her cry. That she could not explain or justify or rationalise. There was no explanation for it that made sense as politics, finance, autonomy or respect.

She’d even given it a name in Rat and Crow, for something nasty and dangerous and that she didn’t like at all. She called it "snake" and it appeared over and over in her notes as she had tried over the months to understand why Harold had acted as he had.

“Seth,” she finally said.

“Seth Stanleh?” Harold repeated. He sounded so confused. “What about him?”

Oh lovely! I so love H&M. I think they are my favorite not-a-couple.

I will confess that I have been wracking my brain to come up with an appropriate gift from Harold to Morgan and cannot come up with much beyond a new strongbox with her very own security measures. Might be useful so that Alan and Maeve don't run off with that book of Calormene poetry.

I will also say not to worry about 13 yo teen no-it-alls. I have been very tempted to write, "Aren't ...." And "Wow ....."

Best they see how a responsbile adult acts now; judging by how he/she acts, that might be novelty.

doctor dolly

It's like the Good Doctor Who. Every time he says that he's a responsible adult, his sonic screwdriver blows up.

"that was her fault for investing in something that ate." Oh Morgan, I love you so much. Also, are Lawyers on par with Evil Bankers? It seems to me to be something that Harold would find fitting. I love the blerb, and can't wait to see it in full! Good luck with the write-in!

Are lawyers on par with Evil Bankers? you know, I think it depends... some lawyers don't go to business school or become economists because they are really bad with numbers.

I figured out a way to wrap up Susan's story in France, and then "all" that is left is D Day, so I'm pretty happy about that. Woot!

There was a final matter that Tebbitt knew had to be addressed. “Last, we need a security code, something in every message that tells me it’s from you, something only you would know and that cannot be duplicated. If I get any message that is supposed to be from you, if that security isn’t there, I’ll know you’ve been taken and that you are communicating under duress.”

There was only one thing that would work, that was unique to the person she really was, something that was under the codenames, the working names, the covers, and the forged identity cards. There was a code only Susan Pevensie would know. He only knew it because he had seen it.

“I think you know what we should use, Miss Pevensie.”

She shook her head, frowning. “Je ne comprends pas.”

“Don’t you remember this?” She watched, eyes wide, as Tebbitt slowly removed her phenomenally indiscreet letter from his folder. “Major al-Masri gave it to me. It’s the letter you wrote to Edmund in 1942. On its face, it appears to be a children’s story about a land called Narnia. But that isn’t right, is it, Queen Susan?”

Oh! That is pretty awesome! I love how we get that slippery slope of StG becoming Susan, Spy Mistress Extraordinaire and from there to Susan, perceived as a fluff-head because she knows how to use her Faces to manipulate others' perceptions of her. I can't wait to see the full! Great job!

I really have to wonder about the demographic of these "haters"; have they only been in the fandom (or any fandom) for a very short period of time? And by short period of time, I mean less than 2 years, give or take. I mean, I've "only" been in fandom for... oh, 12 years now? (And it definitely gets the "only" around here.) But frankly, the BS line about "you're too old to play in our fandom" is, well, simply that--BS. You're like one of those wise elders on the council who have so much knowledge to share with us young'uns! You are a Role Model, not someone to be scorned!

*Cough*

I'll stop waxing poetic, now... but seriously, I look at you and it reassures me that fanfiction isn't something I need to give up on just because I'm a "grown up". And some of us really enjoy thought provoking, well written stories with realistic characters that also manage to slip some educational tidbits into along the way without feeling preachy.

(And yet, this is still why I avoid the majority of fandom forums and communities. I'd rather not deal with sanctimonious bashing of my preferences.)

Aww, role model, which is why I've hidden fandom in the underwear drawer (or wardrobe) since 1995! Heh. But thanks. I came to the conclusion that fanfiction is my hobby, as much as knitting or art, or learning a language, or music, it's my hobby. I just read btw a post by vialethe (I think) where she wondered precisely at the issue of bashing an author's preferences -- I mean if you say there's FOC or that it's a pairing of X and Y, why do you come in and say I HATE X & Y unless, as my teen says, "Haters are gonna hate, mom."

Haters really are the worst, aren't they? Staying silent probably is the best policy, since you're never going to change anyone's opinions for them, but I know how frustrating and difficult that can be. I tend to fail at it, myself.

At least you can take comfort in the fact that there are far more of us who think you're getting it right! Fandom is not a kid's menu, there's no cutoff age.

I love that! It's not a kid's menu! I want to get a post up about that, actually, whether there are differences for authors who are writing in verses originally intended for children, and how we approach those derivative works as readers. I've seen this way more in Narnia than in other fandoms and I'm really curious to tease it out a little more at a meta level.

I envy how prolific a writer you are! Just sharin'

You're newly minted teen is quite wise here and, no doubt, keenly observant of all the drama year after year.

Hang in there, the egrets are worth it!

It is so weird seeing you all over here after so long with me hiding it all in the wardrobe!

"Fandom has changed since you were doing it" just reads so, so juvenile to me that I almost can't believe it was posted in all sincerity. Almost.

Because clearly, you have been sitting here with your head buried in the sand all this time, completely unaware of how life and time and fanfiction are moving around you. Obviously.

Also, your family sounds like they provide plenty of fodder for stories. Which is what I tell myself whenever things get too wacky around here.

Edited 2012-02-10 01:43 (UTC)

At least you are not now burdened by psych dog! I admit that a goodly part of my pique is, "don't you respect your elders?" Which makes me laugh at myself immensely as a part of the joy of the fandom experience is that it cuts across ages. This is a GOOD thing and I don't WANT to be treated as an elder statesmen, gray-hair (rather than graybeard). On the other hand, I do also occasionally sit on my fingers when I see posts about parental issues. I always want to type, "Tell your parents! Really! We love our children! We want to know!" Ahem.

Oh, psycho dog did not, in fact, end up going away - my MIL apparently decided to give it another try Friday (while Carl and I were GONE) because hey, the children said they liked the dog! And the dog was acting much calmer! So it was all okay, even though dog had tried to bite the 2yo Thursday evening!

Needless to say, we were both pissed.

Even as a parent whose children are nowhere near teenage angst years yet, I have some of the same reactions to those parental-issue posts. "Seriously, guys, parents are people too, they really do love you no matter what - you've got to trust them if you want them to trust you!" But it would be even less palatable coming from someone like me, I'm afraid - I have neither the age nor the street cred to back me up.

I saw your tweet about the dog. Gosh this is a great way to make kids afraid of dogs. That can take a Looooong time to overcome too. I hope the trip you both took was good! It all sounds very exciting!

Hugs, hugs, hugs. All the hugs are for you, today!

Now I need to figure out how to e-mail myself to you, so the hugs can be accompanied by coffee, pound cake, and scintillating discussion of ~~porn~~ the weather.

Got the coffee and just had a slice of not quite pound cake. I got beaten over the head by my nearest and dearest AGAIN yesterday after I posted, TWICE, and I'm now at the point of really must you treat your sister in law like a hostile witness? Email as the blunt weapon in the murder case. Lawyers. Bleh. I'll take porn too. But not at work.

This blurb of H& M is wonderful, as is your little snatch of Susan and Tebbitt. You are wise and amazing, as is your teenager. Don't ever listen to the haters. :) Your teen is also wise in this moment - and a wonderful credit to his mother!

Part of me wants to sit on on this "Write-In" tonight, even though I'm not participating in the NBB, just to try and get some inspiration for the multiple Narnia stories that are sitting on my virtual desk, especially TSOTHF. I'm at a point of stasis that hurts, because I want to but can't, want to so badly and just can't get my brain to work. My other half will be home from work about the time the write-in starts, though, so I'm not sure how well that would work, although I might be able to spend an hour.

And the porn challenge. I've always thought the porn issue in Narnia fandom is rather tricky, as you can only do that to begin with if you're willing to thumb your nose at all the single-interpretation, UR DOING IT WRONG people who are going to hate you for writing Narnia porn to begin with. And yet, the discussion needs to be had. I was having a long conversation with a friend not too long ago (and with you as well, as I recall) about the need for explorations of sexual acts without shame, without prudery, without Puritanism, and with copious amounts of beauty - all of which "Maenad" and "I Loved Not Man" possessed in abundance, thank the Goddess. :)

I could go on for days about this. I shall stop here to prevent that from happening.

Notifications aren't working, but I hope you'll join the write in!!!

As it turns out, I've been bad and working on H&M. If I can figure out a place to end this first chapter, I'll have something shy of 10,000 words to post on Tuesday or thereabouts. I hope. HOPE

And thank you for your lovely thoughts!!!

Yay, more H&M! That's exciting. :) I am eager to know more not just about the two of them, but about Susan and her financier. :)

HH - your third paragraph: YES! I couldn't agree more.

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one. :)

Late again, cause I've been away for work all this week with minimal Internet access (gah!!!). Snippets are lovely, and the rest of it sucks bigtime. Haven't got any other pearls of wisdom, so I'll simply say Yes, THIS to what others have already posted. Hang in there, the worst crap does eventually get better (voice of personal experience, sigh...)

I do hope all is well! I think (hope) I'll get something up for H&M this week for Valentine's Day. I need an end to this segment....

Harold is looking for her - and Morgan thinks she is invisible?
Poor little thing - good that they are going to "reach some level of understanding, for a while".

I'm looking forward to your next Narnia piece, whether H&M or not!

Hi,
Sorry to come late to the party; life is busy. Thank you for the snippet of Susan and Tebbitt, and a little squint at Harold & Morgan - I miss them all! I am very eager, at this point, for any postings.

Regarding messages of hatred and hostility - is there any practical thing that can be done to protect you from these cretins, or to help in any other way? I know that freedom of speech is central to it all, but rocket-launching verbal bombs violates one's very capacity to freely speak. So, I think that I'd like to help you out, maybe by crafting some sort of declaration that you can just copy-and-paste to people when they demonstrate a lack of respect. I'm fairly confident, moreover, that if you wanted to throw this idea open to your FF community, some of the incredibly intelligent people who post here would be able to collaborate in working up a response which neither engages nor inflames, but sets out a clear boundary. What do you think? Is this a useful idea?

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